


The Only Hero Left

by Ikira



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: (obviously spoilers), AU from mid-final battle onwards, Badass!Zelda, F/M, Hey it's Zelda's turn to save the day and Link's turn to get rescued, Mind Control, Non-Graphic Description of Injuries, Possession, Someone help these poor children they don't know how to flirt, Spoilers, Urbosa ships it, Very short dresses, angst with a heaping helping of schmoop and happy endings, no not you Urbosa, semi-au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 20:00:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11215251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikira/pseuds/Ikira
Summary: Everyone knows that Hyrule had been destroyed 100 years prior by Calamity Ganon corrupting the very weapons intended to defeat him, but as Zelda watches Link's final battle against the great evil, she is certain that this time they will not fail. The spirit of the champions is with them, Link has the Master Sword in hand, and surely this time Ganon will be eliminated once and for all.However, what is a Hero of Hyrule but another weapon intended to defeat Ganon? And if a dragon of the gods can become corrupted, what hope does a mere mortal, even one with as great a destiny as the hero, have to resist him?Thus Zelda finds herself fighting for her life to save her Kingdom, destroy Ganon, and rescue the man she loves before he is lost forever to the darkness.





	The Only Hero Left

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Calm Waters Run Deep](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10425738) by [MaryDragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryDragon/pseuds/MaryDragon). 



> I just want to start off by saying I have NO idea where this came from. I beat the game, and immediately sat down and wrote this one-shot in one sitting where apparently the last half of the final battle goes completely differently. What the hell brain? But hey, Zelda is just so adorable in the game, maybe I just wanted to give her a bigger chance to shine. Hopefully I succeeded.
> 
> Next I just want to thank my always-fantastic beta, **sexythewalkingcatfish** who I'm not even sure is in this fandom but still puts up with my madness and checked this story over to make sure it made SOME sort of sense. Bless you my friend.
> 
> Finally, I just want to say that while this fic itself wasn't directly inspired by MaryDragon's "Trouble the Water" series, _I_ was inspired by it. Reading those stories probably got me in the mood to write some Zelink myself, and I'm sure a lot of my characterization and writing style will be heavily influenced by them. I highly recommend reading them if you want more quality Zelink fic.
> 
> Other than that, I hope y'all enjoy this little fun adventure!

As the darkness of the bowels of Hyrule Castle melted away to reveal the dim light of twilight before dawn, Hyrule Field stretching out around them and Link standing before them with the Master Sword in hand, Zelda felt a thrill of triumph race through her incorporeal form. Calamity Ganon’s physical manifestation had been summarily beaten by the combined efforts of Link and the other Champions, and all that was left was pure Malice taken form: Dark Beast Ganon. Though the creature was wreathed in violent flames and towered over the Hylian Champion, Zelda felt nothing but certainty that Link would be victorious. They were so close.

_This is the end for you_ , she hissed into Ganon’s mind. _You shall torment this Kingdom no longer!_ Her power was strong, and Link was here. There was no way they could fail.

But then to her surprise, Ganon’s spirit began to chuckle. **_Oh sweet, naïve, child_** **,** it purred to her, its voice like oil and poison sliding through her veins. **_Have you not yet realized?_ **

She was no stranger to hearing Ganon speak after a century of being trapped within Hyrule Castle alongside it. Days and years of listening to it rage and curse at her had numbed her to its mental voice so that it held no horror for her any longer. But she couldn’t help the tiniest flicker of fear that appeared in her stomach at its words. Although it had already been defeated once and was certainly facing its final battle, Calamity Ganon strangely showed no sign of concern.

_Whatever you are planning, it is too late,_ she insisted as firmly as she could manage. _It’s over_.

**_That it is, princess,_** the dark beast agreed. It sounded far too satisfied. Below them, Link was whistling for his horse, which was charging bravely across the field towards him despite the monster that awaited them.

_…What are you doing?_  She finally asked with trepidation. The beast merely chuckled again.

**_Ah, do you not remember how I destroyed your Kingdom last time? I turned the weapons you intended to use to defeat me against you._ **

_I am well aware of that_ , Zelda spat, the memories of watching Castle Town burn still fresh in her mind despite the many years between that day and now. She tried her best to push the echoes of her people’s dying screams from her mind, instead focusing on the task at hand. Ganon was up to something, and she needed to be ready.

**_Well,_ ** Ganon continued slyly, and she could hear the sick amusement in its tone. **_What is the Hero of Hyrule but another weapon intended to defeat me?_ **

And in that moment Zelda felt as if her heart had become encased in ice. Her eyes flew to the lone figure astride his mount that stood before them, Master Sword at the ready. _No!_ She screamed, _you can’t!_

**_Watch me_** **,** Ganon snarled. And then with a loud bellow, the dark creature’s form shifted, abandoning tangibility to take on a gaseous state in the vague shape of a boar. Calamity Ganon swirled around Hyrule Field, spreading like a fog over the area, while Link watched its approach, heedless of the danger he was in.

There was a moment where Zelda thought that things might have been okay. As Ganon’s form raced towards Link and his mount, ghastly jaws open wide to consume him, Link held up the Master Sword, glowing with pure energy, and swung the blade in a wide arc towards Ganon’s approaching mass, ready to strike true. But at the last second when the blade would have struck, Ganon completely dissolved, wisps of energy dispersing into the air like smoke. Link stumbled, caught off guard, and had to grab at his steed’s mane to regain his balance.

The near tumble left him momentarily off-guard, and that was all the time Ganon needed.

_No!_ Zelda screamed, helpless to stop the oncoming tragedy.

Link hardly seemed to make a sound as the Malice suddenly swarmed him, the evil energy appearing as a cloud around him that solidified into a darkness that coated his form. His horse screamed in fear and reared, causing Link to slip. He fell from his horse, still trying to get away from the onslaught, but it was relentless. Ganon’s power overwhelmed him, coating him from toes to shoulders in seconds. He gasped and struggled, stretching out his neck like a man drowning in a lake, trying to escape the darkness. For the first time in all of the years that Zelda had known him, she saw actual fear in his eyes.

_Link!_ She cried, trying to reach him with her own power before it was too late. _Link, no!_

The Master Sword slipped from his fingers, clattering to the ground and going dim, and Zelda knew he was lost.

Link’s eyes squeezed shut as the Malice reached his mouth. It slipped in between his lips before he could even cry out, choking him and silencing him completely. And then he was consumed, Ganon’s sinister laughter echoing in Zelda’s ears.

She was so overcome with despair that for a moment, she didn’t realize she could feel the wind on her skin, her hair blowing in the breeze. Her vision focused, and she realized she was staring down at her own bare hands clenched in the dirt. She looked up to find herself kneeling in the long grass, Hyrule Field stretching out around her. It seemed that in consuming Link, Calamity Ganon had finally released her, unable to hold both of them inside its monstrous form.

“No,” she whispered, staring at the dark mass that had surrounded Hyrule’s Champion. _“No!”_

And then, to her horrified disbelief, it got worse.

The Malice dispersed, and Link slowly rose to his feet. But it wasn’t her Link. The Malice that had coated him had solidified into dark armour that glistened sickly like oil on water, covered in designs similar to the bodies of the Blights that had tormented the Divine Beasts. His hair had become bright red, his skin taking on a sickly gray tinge. But the worst was when he opened his eyes. Instead of the beautiful blue eyes that were so familiar to her, the glowing golden eyes of Ganon glared down at her.

Link’s face was blank for a moment, his body still as a statue. And then his mouth twisted up into an expression so foreign and unlike him that Zelda flinched back, his dark smirk sending a chill like ice down her spine. Blue light gathered into his empty hand, swirling and condensing until it took the shape of a jagged blade, a parody of the sword he’d once wielded. He swung it slowly, as if testing its weight, as he began stalking towards her.

_Scourge of the Hero of Hyrule_ , a voice in her mind whispered to her, naming the monster before her. _Heroblight Ganon._

“Link, Link, no. Fight this!” Zelda pleaded, still kneeling in the grass. She felt as if she was being stabbed in the heart with every step he took, her breath catching in her throat as he stopped before her. He sneered at her, baring sharp teeth.

“Please,” she begged, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

Heroblight Ganon did not hesitate. He brought his sword up over his head, ready to bring it crashing down on Zelda’s skull. Her eyes slipped shut in despair.

There was the sound of metal striking something, a crash that rang painfully in Zelda’s ears, and the impossibly familiar sound of Daruk’s battle roar. Zelda’s eyes flew open just in time to see Daruk’s Protection flicker and fade, while Daruk’s spirit momentarily hovered before her.

_“Hey, Princess!”_ Daruk shouted, turning to look back over his shoulder. “ _We’ve got your back! We haven’t given up on the little guy yet, and neither should you!”_

“D-Daruk,” Zelda stuttered, staring up at the spirit in shock. “H-how?”

But the spirit vanished before he could answer, leaving Zelda to face the dark creature alone. Heroblight Ganon looked momentarily stunned, stumbling backwards, but Zelda knew he would recover soon. Part of her wanted to just give up; they had come so far and _still_ Ganon had corrupted all of their hopes. But a deeper part of her refused to surrender. That part of her that was connected to the spirits of the other Champions, that she could now feel surrounding her, that bore the spirit of the Goddess Hylia – it sang to her in an ancient voice that she _could not give up_.

She slowly rose to her feet, staring Heroblight Ganon down, wondering how she could possibly defeat this evil on her own. Her powers were greatly weakened after spending one hundred years keeping Ganon at bay. Worse, she had only ever used them to restrain, she had no idea how to use them to save Link. Frustration bubbled up in her chest as she frantically tried to come up with some sort of plan.

But then her eye caught a glint of metal hiding in the long grass, and she bit back a gasp. Of course! She glanced between the oncoming monster and the shimmer in the grass, wondering if she’d be able to dodge past him and reach her target before that glowing blade took her head off. Deciding she had no hope but to try, she immediately bolted.

Heroblight Ganon snarled at her, swinging his sword at her head as she darted towards him, but she ducked at the last second and threw herself forward, sliding under his swing. Still, she felt a sharp pain slice across her face, and a few strands of golden hair fluttered to the ground where they’d been cut through, but she’d gotten past. Her focus narrowed completely to the shine of metal lying on the ground before her.

It was only as her hands grasped desperately at the hilt of the forgotten Master Sword that it occurred to her that the Sword of Evil’s Bane was purported to kill any who attempted to wield it other than its chosen bearer. As far as she knew, no one other than the Hero of Hyrule had ever dared lift it in battle, and though she had carried it before when returning it to its resting place to repair itself, it had never been with the intention of using it. She definitely intended to use it now, and she wondered if the sword would sense that and, deciding she was unworthy, slay her for her impudence.

But as her bare skin closed on the strangely warm hilt of the mythical blade, she felt nothing but power surging through her. The sword called to her in a happy greeting, the voice familiar as it spoke into her mind.

_Hello, Chosen of Nayru_ , the sword hummed, singing to her more than speaking. _It is good to see you again_.

“Hello,” she murmured back, slowly turning to face Heroblight Ganon with the Master Sword now clenched firmly in one hand. Her palm was sweaty and her heart was fluttering in her chest like a bird trapped in a cage, but the Master Sword was glowing with a familiar comforting blue light, and she drew strength from that. “Please help me.”

_Yes_ , the Master Sword murmured. _Yes, we must save my master_.

There was no more time to speak, however, as Heroblight Ganon had recovered from his surprise. He rushed towards them, his own sword thrusting forward to run Zelda through. She hastily brought up the Master Sword in a clumsy parry, knocking the monster’s sword aside just far enough to avoid death, but not far enough to avoid injury. She hissed as the blade cut into her bare shoulder, her white dress offering absolutely no protection, and stumbled back.

The monster pressed his advantage, swinging again. Zelda barely knocked the blade away once more, sheer luck and adrenaline letting her keep her feet. While she was no stranger to battle – her father had been wise enough to know that as future Queen, she should at least be able to defend herself if she were ever to be attacked – she was facing a creature of darkness that inhabited Hyrule’s greatest warrior. It may not have been Link, but it certainly fought like him. Zelda knew she was incredibly lucky that he hadn’t killed her with his first strike.

Heroblight Ganon seemed to grow frustrated with her, snarling soundlessly, before switching tactics. Instead of swinging his blade at her, he abruptly lashed out with a kick, his foot landing square in Zelda’s stomach. She grunted in pain as she was knocked back, barely keeping her hold on the Master Sword, landing on her back a few feet away. She could only lay there for a moment, struggling to get the air back into her lungs.

“ _Look out!”_ Revali’s voice suddenly rang in her ears, and then before she knew what was happening a large gust of wind lifted her into the air, far out of Heroblight Ganon’s reach. Zelda struggled to focus as Revali’s spirit encircled her, his wide wings shifting the air currents to deposit her safely on the ground a fair distance away. “ _Come on, princess, don’t give up just yet. You can do this.”_

The gentle words from the normally so caustic Rito were enough of a jolt for Zelda to regain her breath. She looked to Revali’s spirit and nodded. “You’re right, thank you. I will do this, I _must_ do this. For Hyrule.”

_For my master_ , the Master Sword added.

“ _Here,_ ” Mipha’s spirit flickered into being beside her. “ _I will help you in any way I can.”_ Her hands rested on the cuts and bruises on Zelda’s skin, her eyes slipping shut. There was a tingling sensation, and Zelda gasped as warmth flooded through her body, erasing all of the aches and pains she hadn’t  even realized were there, and making her feel even stronger than before.

“Thank you, Mipha,” Zelda told the Zora Princess with as much sincerity as she could muster. “You have always been so kind to me; I’m so sorry I cannot do more.”

But Mipha just shook her head, fins flapping with the motion. _“You must save Link!_ ” she insisted, staring up at Zelda with more intensity than Zelda had ever seen from the normally so demure woman. _“That would be more than enough!”_

There was a grunt, Daruk’s form appearing protectively in front of her, deflecting a wicked-looking arrow that had been shot in her direction. Zelda flinched, her eyes going wide as she took in Heroblight Ganon’s new form. The Malice that coated his arms had shifted, long spikes curving out of his left hand to form the crude shape of a bow. As she watched, his right hand grasped at the space where the bowstring would be, and a pink bolt of glowing Malice condensed between his fingers. He let it loose, and it soared through the air towards them. Zelda let out a small scream and threw herself to the side.

“ _Whoa, that was a close one!”_ Daruk said, eyeing her worriedly. _“Are you okay, Princess?”_

“I’m fine,” she insisted as she pushed herself to her feet once more. “But I’m going to have some trouble getting close if he’s shooting arrows at me now. I have no bow of my own.” She briefly thought of the Bow of Light that she had been constructing for Link’s use with the last of her power, but her concentration was too broken for her to create it now. She would need time to solidify her power into a weapon, more time than Heroblight Ganon would dare give her. All she had was the Master Sword. It would have to be enough.

“ _Leave that to me_ ,” Urbosa’s spirit chuckled as she appeared, striding towards the creature with confidence. As Heroblight Ganon turned to face her, she smirked, and then snapped her fingers. There was a mighty boom, and then Heroblight Ganon fell to his knees, his body wracked with tremors as the powerful lightning of Urbosa’s Fury coursed through him.

“Urbosa, no!” Zelda cried. “You’ll hurt Link!”

But the Gerudo simply shrugged. _“Do not fear, the Malice that covers him took the brunt of the attack. Besides,”_ she turned to Zelda with a remorseful look, her eyes full of sorrow. “ _I am sure that Link would prefer death to being used to harm you_.”

There was nothing Zelda could say to that.

“ _Now hurry, while it’s stunned!”_ Urbosa urged her, stepping back to clear the way.

“ _Go on, Princess!”_ Daruk cheered her on.

_“You can do this_ ,” Revali added.

“ _Please,”_ Mipha murmured, her hands clasped before her chest.

_Save him_ , the Master Sword whispered into her ear, heard by her alone. _Save my master. Save the man you love_.

_Yes_ , her heart sang back, and she moved.

She strode across Hyrule Field, her eyes focused unblinkingly on the monster that had once been her Champion. She must have been quite a sight to behold; her white dress splattered with dirt and mud, her long golden hair in disarray, her skin dotted with blood from her now-healed wounds. But her head was held high, her shoulders back and her spine straight. She walked towards the creature of evil with determination and confidence, the Master Sword clenched firmly in her fist. She would not fail, _could_ not fail.

Heroblight Ganon slowly got to his feet as she approached, glaring at her with utter hatred. His bow had vanished, but his sword was back in hand, gleaming wickedly. The sun was beginning to rise into the sky, and Zelda knew this was it. This was the moment.

They met in the middle, blades locking. Heroblight Ganon was stronger, Link’s form shorter but bulkier than hers, but Zelda could feel the strength of Hylia in her veins, the Master Sword’s power in her hands. She dug her feet into the dirt and refused to give ground. When Heroblight Ganon realized that she could not be knocked down, he jerked away, kicking out at her again. But this time she was prepared and twisted aside, keeping the Master Sword towards him. She took advantage of his reduced stability on one leg to slash at him, scoring a hit across his side that left a jagged mark and made him hiss in pain. Encouraged, Zelda pressed forward, slamming the hilt of the sword into his jaw. Heroblight Ganon yelped and fell back, and for a moment, he was wide open.

Zelda went to strike on instinct, seeing an opening she could exploit, but then she froze in horror, the blade inches from the creature’s throat.

_I’ll kill him_ , she realized, her eyes widening as the dark realization overtook her. _If I strike this monster down, it’s still Link inside. I’ll kill him too._

Faltering, she took a step back, and Heroblight Ganon took advantage of her pause, lashing out at her ankles and sending her tumbling. She scrambled to her feet, bringing the Master Sword up in a defensive position, to find Heroblight Ganon aiming his bow at her again. She let out a very unladylike curse and threw herself to the ground as the dark arrow shot through the air where her head had been barely a moment before.

_How do I save him?_ she asked the Blade of Evil’s Bane as she rolled to the side to avoid Heroblight Ganon’s foot stomping at her skull. _How do I save him without killing him?_

The sword was worryingly silent.

Zelda didn’t have time to think on this, though, because the monster was swinging his sword down at her, and she was forced to crawl backwards to avoid it. Her scramble to her feet was hardly graceful, and if she hadn’t been currently fighting for her life she might have been embarrassed by the way her dress rode up, revealing far more skin than would normally be considered appropriate. But given the circumstances she merely cursed the flimsy fabric for being so hard to move in.

She blocked another overhead swing, gritting her teeth as their swords clashed and the sound of metal clanging rang through her sensitive ears. Her shoulders screamed at her in pain as they took the brunt of the hit, straining against the blow, and sweat ran down her face. She didn’t know how much longer she could do this, determination and belief or not.

_Please tell me_ , she beseeched the sword again. _How do I do it? How do I save him without killing him?_

There was a pause. She could sense that the Master Sword was holding itself back from saying something that she did not want to hear.

_You…you save him…_ the Master Sword reluctantly murmured, sounding uncertain. And then, in a very small voice, the Master Sword admitted, _I don’t know. I’m not sure…that you_ **_can_** _._

Zelda’s expression hardened. **_No_** , she immediately growled, shoving Heroblight Ganon away with newfound strength. _I refuse to accept that_.

The sword was silent a moment more, and then she felt another burst of warmth flow through her, momentarily masking her pain and fatigue. _If anyone can save him, you can_ , the Master Sword told her. _I can still feel him. We are still connected, despite the evil that enshrouds him. He is calling out to you. Calling for you. His heart yearns for you, as yours yearns for his._

Zelda told herself firmly that she was _not_ blushing. She was in the middle of the ultimate battle of good versus evil, fighting for her life to save her Kingdom. She did not have time to act like a giddy little girl. But she couldn’t help the thrill that went through her at the sword’s words. Link yearned for her? As she did for him?

There had certainly been… _something_ between them all those years ago. Although initially she had been hostile and resentful towards him, her opinion of him had changed that day when he’d selflessly thrown himself between her and the deadly Yiga Clan members that had cornered her at the Oasis. After that she had to confess that she couldn’t help but notice him a bit more. He was always with her, always a few steps behind her as she studied and prayed and struggled to awaken the power within her. She had become acutely aware of the feeling of his eyes always on her back, always watching her. She had tried to watch him as much as she could in turn, attempting to better know the man who had been sworn as her protector, and the more she’d come to know him the more she’d become enthralled.

She’d always had a bit of an obsessive personality, and Link was such a fascinating subject to study.

_Silly, silly girl,_ she’d chided herself when she’d finally realized, only a week before her seventeenth birthday, what the fluttering in her chest meant every time she looked to Link.

She’d never considered that her affections might be returned. Link had always been so stoic, so silent, that getting anything out of him was like pulling teeth from a Moblin. She’d prided herself on every tidbit she’d managed to collect about him, and was quite confident that she knew the hero better than anyone else in the Kingdom, save for Mipha perhaps. But even still, she’d never had an easy time reading him, and he so rarely let his emotions show. How could she have ever known?

_But_ , she firmly told herself with a mental shake. _Just because the Master Sword says he’s calling to me does_ **_not_ ** _mean he…cares for me. His feelings may not be the same as mine. We were close friends, after all, and his memories are scattered besides. And more importantly, I am in the middle of a fight and should not be thinking about this right now!_

As if to punctuate her thoughts, Heroblight Ganon took a massive swing at her head that would have surely decapitated her if she had not bent over backwards at the last possible second in a move that she had seen Impa perform a hundred times before but had never attempted herself. As a result, she fell onto her back with a grunt, wincing as her elbow scraped against a stone and started bleeding sluggishly. Thank the goddesses it wasn’t her sword arm at least.

She was more than a little frustrated to see that while she was getting battered and bruised all over again, Heroblight Ganon only had a single scratch on him! Worse, he was hardly winded while she was desperately gasping for breath, her chest heaving. She was running out of time and energy, and they both knew it.

_Think, Zelda!_ She cursed herself and jumped to the side, knocking Heroblight Ganon’s sword away with a clumsy strike as she tried to gain some distance to think. _How do I harm Ganon without harming Link? How does one destroy Malice?_

She thought frantically back to what she’d seen of Link’s adventures, watching him from her imprisonment within Hyrule Castle with the sight that the goddess’ power granted her. He had encountered Ganon’s Malice coating the Divine Beasts, several Sheikah Towers spread across the land, and even in Hyrule Castle itself. How had he removed the tainted power?

_Eyes_ , the Master Sword murmured, its own memories of Link’s battles adding to her own. A sudden image flooded her mind of a great dragon, curled around the peak of Mount Lanayru, its glimmering scales coated in darkness. A memory played for her, showing her Link racing along the mountaintop and soaring through the air, firing arrows to pierce the corrupted eyeballs that covered the dragon’s form, until it was finally cleansed.

_The eyes are the weak spot_ , Zelda concluded. _I must pierce the eye!_

But where was it? She looked to the golden eyes that glared at her with pure hatred, but quickly dismissed that as an option. They didn’t look right, and they were too small besides. But where else could it be hidden?

That’s when she realized that there was only one place it could be. The one part of Link’s body that she had not yet seen, with the way he had constantly been pressing the attack.

“It’s on his back!” she cried out loud, thrilled with her deduction. A plan quickly formed in her mind. “Urbosa, Revali, I need you!”

_“We’re here, Princess_ ,” Revali murmured, their spirits appearing beside her.

_“What do you need of us?_ ” Urbosa asked, bowing her head respectfully. “ _Ask, and it’s done.”_

“Stun him again,” Zelda ordered the Gerudo’s spirit, “gently, if possible. Revali, I need you to carry me around to get behind him, can you do that?”

The Rito scoffed, tossing his head. _“As if you even need to ask.”_

_“I’ll do my best,”_ Urbosa added, rolling her eyes at Revali’s ego. “ _Just tell me when.”_

Zelda waited until Heroblight Ganon was upon her, and then shouted, “Now!”

Thunder crackled once again, and Heroblight Ganon shuddered. Zelda tightened her grip on the Master Sword as Revali’s winds caught her, lifting her up into the sky and over Heroblight Ganon’s prone form. Zelda’s eyes darted over the figure, squinting down at it, struggling to see anything in the swirling mass of Malice that coated him.

And then, right in the center of his back, a bulbous black eye with a slit pupil of gold snapped open, staring up at her balefully.

“There!” Zelda yelled. “Revali, hold me as long as you can! Daruk, be ready to block any strikes! Mipha, if I make a mistake, please be ready to heal him!”

Her Champions surrounded her, their faith bolstering her strength. She knew this was her last shot, and she needed to take it. Her gaze narrowed to the ominous eye below her.

“I will not force you to strike your own master,” she whispered to the blade in her hands. “But I cannot do this alone.”

_You have my aid_ , the Master Sword told her. _Do whatever is necessary._

She wished she had time to craft the Bow of Light. Its arrows would be able to destroy the Malice instantly without causing any harm to the body beneath it. But that would take minutes when she only had seconds, so she could only use what she had and try her best. She gathered what power she could, infusing it into the Master Sword itself.

“Please, let this work,” Zelda prayed to the goddesses.

Revali’s winds faltered, and she fell.

It was as if the world was moving in slow motion. The ground was rushing up to meet her, but her aim was solely on the figure below. She held the Master Sword in both hands, its tip pointed unwaveringly downward towards the glowing eyeball on Link’s back. She came down like a shooting star, Heroblight Ganon just barely beginning to stir from Urbosa’s attack as she landed.

The Master Sword, coated in Zelda’s own glowing power, pierced the eye dead center. There was a second where everything was still. And then Heroblight Ganon let out an inhuman shriek, its voice piercing and loud enough that Zelda had to slap her hands over her ears to block out the noise, still clutching the Master Sword like a lifeline. Link’s body twisted and jerked as Malice began to pour out of him like blood spurting, staining the grass beneath them a sickly purple and turning the dirt to mud.

The screaming seemed to go on and on forever, but then it suddenly stopped, the last of the Malice evaporating off of Link like steam. He lay terrifyingly still, face down on the ground.

But Zelda didn’t have time to check on him. The cloud of Malice had gathered into a familiar shape, Calamity Ganon looking down at her with its glowing eyes.

**_No!_ ** Ganon shrieked at her, frenzied. It shook and trembled in rage. **_No, this cannot be!_ **

Zelda stared up at the evil that had plagued her Kingdom for a century; the evil that had tormented her every day of her life, even before it had fully formed within her world. This creature that had killed her friends and family and tried to murder the man she loved. She stared up at it, and there was no fear, no pity. It was over, and they both knew it.

Ganon rose into the air, its form twisting around as it gathered speed for one final attack. But Zelda just calmly centered herself, moving the Master Sword to her off hand as Ganon approached. Then, as the monster’s jaws opened, ready to consume her one final time, she reached up, the symbol of the Triforce bursting into being on the back of her hand. A pure light poured out of her, effusing the surrounding area in a halo of gold.

Calamity Ganon roared and shrieked, trying to escape, but it was all for naught. The light consumed it, pulling it within its shell, engulfing every last wisp of Ganon’s form. Then, just as the light became so bright Zelda thought it would consume her, it suddenly contracted into a tiny ball, barely the size of the apple, hovering over her head. She could just barely sense Ganon trapped within.

And then the light winked out, and the world went still.

Zelda hadn’t realized how loud the sounds of battle had become until they were suddenly silenced. Her ears rang with a high pitched noise that would not stop even when she rubbed at them. The sky above her slowly shifted from a bloody red to a beautiful blue, sunshine returning to Hyrule Field and the Kingdom that lay beyond.

It was a beautiful sight, but Zelda cared nothing for it. Her attention was solely on the body that lay in the grass, his blue tunic torn and stained. He wasn’t moving, and she couldn’t see his chest rising with breath.

“Goddess, please no,” she whispered, falling to her knees next to him. Her only relief was the continued presence of the four spirits around them. So long as their number remained four, she still had hope. The Master Sword clattered to the ground at her side as she pulled Link’s limp body into her arms, shifting him against her shoulder. She had a momentary flash of recall, her mind going back to the last time she had held him in her arms like this, and she prayed that this time the outcome would be different.

“Link? Link, can you hear me?” she called out to him, giving him a little shake. Her hand momentarily ran up his back beneath his tunic, searching for a wound. She had thought she had managed to avoid striking him with the blade itself, but his tunic was too ruined to be able to tell by sight alone. Her fingertips traced over countless scars, but she was relieved to find no blood on them when she pulled her hand free.

Still, however, his eyes did not open. His chest did not rise.

She looked up then, frantic, to Mipha’s spirit. “Help,” she begged the spirit. But Mipha only looked away, her eyes sliding shut in misery.

Zelda turned to the Master Sword next. _“Help_ ,” she pleaded, brushing her hand along the cool blade. But the sword was silent, and she could barely feel its presence. Its power was dimming as its purpose was completed.

“Should…should we take him back to the Shrine of Resurrection?” Zelda thought desperately, speaking to herself just as much as the gathered spirits. It had worked last time, after all. But even if she wanted to, she wouldn’t be able to carry him up the steep walls of the Great Plateau by herself, and this time she had no Sheikah warriors at her side, ready to help. Besides, the thought of laying Link to rest for yet another hundred years, where he’d wake up once again alone, without memory, and this time with none living that remembered him seemed…too cruel to imagine.

Her options exhausted, Zelda clutched Link’s body closer and felt hopelessness overtake her. Ganon was defeated, her Kingdom freed of his influence, but somehow the cost still seemed too great. Tears gathered in her eyes and her shoulders began to tremble as she struggled to hold back her despair. But then she looked down at Link’s lifeless face, and she could not stop it any longer. She buried her face into his chest, collapsing upon him and finally letting all of the fear and anger and sadness that had been building up since Ganon had first arrived overwhelm her.

She didn’t know how long she had cried for. Long enough that the spirits had vanished to give her some form of privacy, it seemed. When she finally lifted her head, her eyes felt puffy and red, and her body was weak with exhaustion.

And then the chest beneath her hands shifted, and she immediately jerked upright like she’d been shocked.

“Link?” she breathed.

Tired blue eyes stared up at her. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.

She thought she might cry again, but her eyes were dry, no tears left to be shed. Instead she just sobbed dryly, so relieved that her heart hurt. Her hands clutched his tunic tight enough that she thought the worn fabric might tear. “Oh, Link! Thank the goddesses!”

He grunted, starting to move, but she quickly stilled him with a hand pressed to his chest. Now that she knew he lived, her mind went to all sorts of injuries he might have sustained that she hadn’t discovered yet; he could still be in danger. “No, try not to move just yet,” she instructed him in a low murmur. “I need to check you over for any other wounds. Tell me, where does it hurt?”

He had the audacity to roll his eyes at her before gesturing weakly with his hand in a way she took to mean “everywhere.” She huffed at that rather unhelpful answer.

“Alright, fine. I’ll start with your head and work my way down,” she told him, trying to keep her head in a crisis. It was what was expected of royalty after all. “Let me know if anything I touch hurts worse than usual.”

She did just as she said she would, running her hands along his head first, checking for blood as she ran her fingers through his tangled hair. There was a cut on his brow that she believed he had earned from his initial assault on Hyrule Castle, but thankfully it seemed to have stopped bleeding for now. Still, she made a mental note to bandage it as soon as she could. She briefly wondered where Mipha and the others had vanished off to. The Zora Princess’ help would not be remiss at this moment.

Absently she was aware that in any other circumstances, her actions would have been seen as highly inappropriate. A young unmarried woman, the princess besides, putting her hands on a man in such a way would have certainly made the ladies of the Court all atwitter if they could see her now. But still she pressed on, running her hands along the back of Link’s neck, across his shoulders and collarbones, down his arms. Every few seconds she would pull away, checking her palms for blood, but so far they remained clean. His back she had already checked earlier, and she had been slumped against his chest long enough that if he had an injury there she would have noticed it, so she moved to his hips and legs next, struggling to keep her composure as she touched him in places she most certainly had never touched a man before. Link, for his part, simply watched her through half-lidded eyes, his expression as always unreadable.

She finally found blood upon her fingers as she searched his right thigh. She bit back a curse as she lifted her hands away to find them streaked with bright red. So he was wounded after all. She hadn’t had much time to cover anatomy in her studies – she had been more interested in the wonders of Sheikah technology first of all, and secondly her father had limited her studies to only that which he thought would awaken her power once it became clear that Ganon was returning – but she remembered that there was a very important artery in the thigh, and Link’s wound seemed very close to where she believed it must be. Though surely he would be dead by now if the artery itself had been hit, she was still eager to tend to the cut as soon as possible, just in case.

She rushed through the rest of her inspection, and was mildly relieved to find no other injuries other than minor scrapes and bruises. He might have broken limbs, but he hadn’t made a sound as she’d checked him over, even as she’d brushed the cut on his thigh, so she had no way of knowing until they tried to move him. And that wasn’t going to happen until she finished tending to his cut.

“Do you have any fairies with you?” she asked absently, already grabbing his pack up without bothering to ask for permission. He could be angry with her later.

Link frowned, before shrugging sluggishly with one shoulder and shaking his head. If he’d had any, they were used up, she surmised. The battle with Calamity Ganon’s physical form had been treacherous after all, and he’d surely dropped most of his supplies when the ground had quite literally collapsed beneath him when Calamity Ganon had first appeared. She sighed and dug through what remained of his belongings, searching for any sort of healing elixirs or potions she could use. To her frustration, the only thing she could find was a half-empty bottle of fireproof elixir, and a slightly smushed mushroom riceball. Sighing, she pulled out the food, offering to him.

“This should help a little, at least,” she told him. Link’s hands shook as he took the riceball from her, and her heart broke a little to see him so weak. She almost thought she might have to help him eat, but he managed to get the food to his mouth, shoving it inside and consuming it in only three bites like the glutton he was. Zelda bit back a smile. The behaviour was so familiar to her; she must have seen Link stuff his face like that a hundred times when he thought no one was looking.

But then she turned back to his injury with a frown. Although the food certainly would help him regain some strength, it would mean nothing if they couldn’t stop the bleeding. She eyed the wound, then the meagre supplies they had available, and finally the empty field around them. When no other solution presented itself, Zelda shrugged and did the only thing she thought logical.

Link had a small dagger in his bag, but Zelda didn’t feel like digging around for it again. Instead she simply picked up the Master Sword, silently apologizing to its spirit for using the blade for something so mundane, and then cut a huge slice into the bottom of her dress. Link audibly gasped, staring at her in shock.

“What?” she said defensively, tearing the fabric further through a combination of tugging and hacking at it with the Master Sword when the threads wouldn’t give. “We need bandages.”

Link simply watched her with a gobsmacked expression as she destroyed her sacred gown to create enough bandages to wrap his leg. She was just glad that he didn’t squirm, even when she tied it a bit too tightly. She herself had always been a terrible patient, but Link had never seemed to have a problem with staying still as he was cared for.

“There,” she said as soon as she was finished. “Now let’s see about getting somewhere where we can properly tend to you.” She glanced around, trying to picture the nearest settlement. Kakariko was probably the closest town, though she was sure there would be stables and minor camps along the way. She spotted the familiar shape of the Dueling Peaks in the distance and felt her heart lighten. Soon, soon she and Link could finally rest for real.

“If only your horse hadn’t run off,” Zelda murmured, trying to spot the animal across the field, but there didn’t seem to be another living soul in sight. There _did_ seem to be several spirits, though. They had apparently returned some time since she’d started patching Link up, and were currently watching her and Link with varying expressions ranging from relief to happiness to grudging respect. As she watched Urbosa even had the audacity to _wink_ at her. She fought the urge to stick her tongue out at the Gerudo.

Link suddenly let out a tired huff of laughter, drawing her attention back to him. She could deal with the spirits later. Honestly, she was a bit surprised they’d lingered as long as this; surely they’d want to rest now that Ganon was defeated and their duties were complete. But maybe they wanted to make sure she and Link were okay first.

“What is it?” Zelda asked, frowning down at the injured hero. Instead of answering, Link raised his fingers to his lips, and let out a sudden shrill whistle. Zelda yelped in surprise, her ears still sensitive from all the noise earlier, and glared down at him. But he merely smirked, and not a second later she heard a whinny echoing across the fields, followed by hoofbeats.

She gave Link a flat look, rolling her eyes him. He looked far too pleased with himself. “Show off,” she muttered. But still she helped him to his feet, keeping to his wounded side and slinging his arm around her shoulder so she could carry his weight. He only hissed in pain once, when he tried to put his injured leg down, and stumbled. Zelda almost dropped him, struggling to maintain their balance. But beyond that, he showed no signs of the agony he must have been in. Zelda had no idea how he did it.

When the horse came to a stop at their side, Zelda could have wept in relief. She patted its soft nose with her free hand, laughing as it nudged against her, clearly searching for a treat. “You must be very spoiled,” she told the horse, eyeing Link as she said it. He didn’t even bother looking ashamed.

It was hard work getting Link up onto the saddle without jarring his injury or making it worse, and Zelda wasn’t quite sure if they’d actually managed it, but Link went without complaint. Only the tightness of his jaw told her how much he must be hurting. Once he was in the saddle, she held up the Master Sword, holding it as if she were presenting the blade to him. He stilled for a moment, looking down at her as she raised his fated weapon towards him. With a reverence she had never seen from him before except in the presence of her father, he took the Master Sword from her, sheathing it carefully on his back.

Finally he reached down to pull her up behind him, but she shook her head. “I wouldn’t want to crowd you and accidentally hit your leg,” she told him, even as she reached up and pulled the horse’s reins up over its head so that she could lead it. Link looked momentarily put out, but when he opened his mouth to protest she merely held up a hand to forestall his arguments. “It’s fine, Link. I’ve been cooped up in the castle for a hundred years, after all. I could use the walk.”

He might have still tried to convince her to ride with him, but she merely turned and started walking, leading the horse by the reigns, and he had no choice but to cling to his mount’s mane and hold on for the ride.

As she walked, the long grass tickled Zelda’s legs, revealing just how much of her dress she’d actually cut off to act as bandages. She fought back a blush and silently thanked the goddesses that her father wasn’t here to see her like this. Even Urbosa might have raised an eyebrow at how much of her skin was showing.

Thankfully Link was just as indifferent to her indecency as he was to pretty much everything else that had happened. Or at least she _thought_ he was. But when she looked back unexpectedly to ask him a question, she caught him jerking his eyes away, the faintest hint of redness staining his cheeks. She actually stumbled over her own feet in surprise, only managing to stay upright by virtue of her hold on the horse’s reins. Immediately she looked down at the ground, her own blush getting worse as she became even more acutely aware of the shortness of her skirt.

“I…suppose a change of clothes will be the first order of business for me,” she said haltingly. Although her upbringing dictated that she try not to bring attention to her current state of dress, she was too tired to carefully dance around the subject. Besides, Link himself had always spoken bluntly, if he spoke at all, so she supposed he’d appreciate the directness. “Unfortunately the rest of my wardrobe was most certainly destroyed. I highly doubt any of my rooms survived Ganon’s initial attack at all.”

“They did,” Link’s voice suddenly broke through the morning silence, husky from disuse. Zelda nearly tripped again, so startled by the sound, but she managed to keep her footing. Thankfully the ground was starting to level off, and she could see the beginnings of the road ahead.

“And how would you know this, Hero?” Zelda meant her words to be full of suspicion, but somehow they came out more teasing than anything. She very carefully tried to look at him out of the corner of her eye without actually turning to face him and reveal her own expression.

Goddesses, she had never seen him blush like this. His own eyes were trained diligently on his horse’s neck, and if she didn’t know any better, she might have thought he was squirming. Link! Champion of Hyrule! The man who faced down kings and demons with equal calm, and here he was squirming like a child caught stealing sweets! Would wonders never cease?

She was a bit surprised to find that she was less put out than expected by the idea he had been snooping in her chambers during his journey through Hyrule Castle. After all, even if the rooms themselves had survived, she hardly thought any of her belongings would. She felt a pang of regret that the hundreds of pages of notes she’d made as she’d researched the Guardians and Sheikah technology were most likely lost forever, but then she remembered that she had left her diary out on her desk the night before they’d left for Mount Lanayru and everything had gone to ruin. Perhaps it was best if everything had been destroyed. Goddesses forbid he found _that_ while he was searching.

“Well, either way, we’re hardly going to go all the way back just to pick up a dress for me,” she pointed out eventually, trying to get her thoughts back on track. “I’m sure as soon as we find some sort of outpost, I’ll be able to request some new clothes. Although…” She paused, glancing down at her bare legs, and frowned. “Although I don’t exactly have any way to pay for garments. Perhaps I can trade in some of this jewellery,” she suggested, fingers brushing against the necklace still resting against her collarbones despite the battle she had participated in earlier. She was amazed it hadn’t been flung off.

She heard Link huff, and looked back to him. He was still avoiding her gaze, but as she watched he patted a pouch at his side that she hadn’t noticed earlier. The familiar clink of rupees bouncing against each other set her heart at ease. Link still had some money with him. At least that hadn’t been lost along with the rest of his supplies when he’d tumbled into the bowels of Hyrule Castle after Calamity Ganon’s monstrous form. That was one less thing to worry about, thank Nayru.

Zelda sighed in relief as they finally reached the road. As nice as it was to walk through the field, the feeling of grass tickling her thighs was starting to make her itchy. She stepped confidently out onto the worn bricks of the path, noting absently that it looked much wilder than the last time she had passed this way. Then again, it _had_ been one hundred years.

She might have been sighing in relief, but Link himself actually whimpered a little. She immediately turned back to him in alarm. “Link? What is it? Are you hurting? Did I jar your wound?” She pulled the horse to a stop, darting around its side to peer up at Link. Her hands came to rest on his injured leg, just on either side of the bandages, checking to see if he’d bled through.

But once again she was gobsmacked to find Link blushing bright red and looking carefully away from her. “Link?” she called out carefully. Her hand unconsciously squeezed his thigh, and Link actually _twitched_ , like a whole body shudder had gone through him. She jerked away as if she had been burned. “Oh,” she said softly. “Forgive me, my state of undress is making you uncomfortable, isn’t it?”

She tried to picture what she must look like right now. Her dress torn and stained, her feet splattered with mud, her hands still covered in flakes of his own dried blood. She didn’t even want to think on the state of her hair. It must have been a rat’s nest. She imagined she was quite a sight to behold. She must have looked like some kind of wild woman or beggar. Hardly the image of a divine goddess taken human form, she thought.

“Goodness, you’re right,” she tried to laugh, though it came out a bit shaky. She looked down at her feet, ashamed. “Just look at me.”

“I am.”

Her head whipped up in surprise, her jaw dropping open. It was enough that he’d even spoken, but the way he had said it, so firmly and decisively…she looked up at him to find him looking straight back at her, a strange light in his eyes that she’d never seen before. He was still blushing, and on any other man she might have said his expression was nervous, but he refused to look away when she met his eyes.

She had taken a step back when he’d twitched, but now when he reached out a hand to her she stepped forward once more, taking it without question. She felt her heart flutter in her chest as Link carefully lifted her hand to his lips, ignoring the dirt and blood that covered them, and placed a delicate kiss on the back of her hand. He kept eye contact with her the whole time, and the intensity of his gaze burned into her.

“You look beautiful,” he murmured as he finally let her go, straightening in the saddle. He smiled down at her, and the way the light of the sun caught in his golden hair, framing his face like a halo had Zelda struggling for words.

“I – you…” Zelda stuttered and fumbled for a moment, before firmly giving herself a mental shake. “Thank you,” she managed to get out, before ducking her head and starting walking again. Her face felt like it was on fire, she was blushing so hard. Goddesses! How did he manage to make her so flustered with only five words and a kiss on her hand? The man was a menace.

She thought she heard him laughing at her, but his voice was too quiet for her to be completely sure.

Well that certainly could not stand. She could not have her appointed knight laughing at his future queen. Almost immediately a devious smile grew on her face as an idea popped into her head. She was certain that Urbosa would have approved, and her father would have been mortified.

“You know, now that we’re back on the road, I _am_ growing rather weary of walking. Perhaps it’s time for me to ride with you after all.” He blinked at her in surprise, before frowning, clearly concerned that she was getting tired and hadn’t mentioned it. Without hesitation he reached out for her again, ready to pull her up into the saddle with him.

But Zelda merely smirked at him before climbing up onto the horse by herself, ignoring his offered hand. She didn’t want him to accidentally strain himself after all. It was a bit tricky; thankfully Link’s horse seemed steady tempered, and it didn’t move too much as she pulled herself up into the saddle behind Link, even though she must have accidentally kicked it a little. The saddle itself was definitely not intended to be used by more than one person, and she was forced to press herself completely against Link’s back, her bare legs surrounding his own with not an inch of space between them. Once she was properly seated, she reached around, taking the reins from Link’s suddenly slack fingers. She had never been more grateful that Link was slightly shorter than her, though she still had to hook her chin over his shoulder to be able to see in front of them.

“There,” she said as soon as she was settled. “Now let’s continue.”

Link didn’t say a word, but she could feel how stiff he had become, and with her face pressed to his shoulder, the blush on his face was immediately apparent. She struggled not to grin too widely. She was probably blushing just as brightly after all, and she couldn’t help but imagine what her father would have to say if he could see them now, but she found she couldn’t quite care. Link’s body was warm and comforting against her own, and when she wrapped an arm around his chest to steady herself, she could feel his heartbeat thundering against her. While it was amusing to know she had managed to make the normally so stoic hero so flustered, it was also a great comfort to feel his heart beat and to hear his breathing. She had thought him dead only a few hours previous, after all.

“Don’t worry,” she quickly assured him as she kicked the horse into motion once more. “I’ll get off before we reach any settlements. I imagine we’d make quite the scene if I didn’t.”

They’d make quite the scene regardless of how they arrived, she thought, as the hero and the long-lost princess returning from defeating the great evil that plagued the land, but at least that way there would be less gossip about what had happened _after_ they defeated the evil.

Link just cleared his throat, still stiff as a board pressed against her, and she settled in for a long and awkward ride, when he surprised her again. His hand came up to grab at the arm she had wrapped around his chest, giving her wrist a little squeeze before ever so gently shifting their hands so that their fingers were laced together. Zelda went still, her breath catching in her throat.

They were quiet for a long time, the only sound between them the steady clop of hooves on the road, the wind through the grass of the field, and the occasional bird song.

But suddenly a thought came to Zelda, and she felt stomach churn and sour. “Link, may I ask…” she began to speak. “Do you…do you really remember me?”

His slumber in the Shrine of Resurrection had surely deprived him of his memories. She knew from watching him from inside Hyrule Castle that he had been trying to regain them, but she wasn’t certain if he had actually succeeded. It finally occurred to her that he might have no idea who she was other than what people had told him of her. She could be a perfect stranger to him, and all he really knew was that she was a young woman who was being very forward with him despite just meeting for the first time. If that was the case, if Link truly didn’t remember her, and he thought of her as nothing more than a pretty girl that he had just met for the first time, he must have been very uncomfortable with her actions.

The thought that he might not remember her at all made her heart feel like it might shatter.

Their faces were too close together for Link to properly look back at her, but she could still see him watching her out of the side of his eye. For a moment, his face stayed carefully blank. And then he smiled softly, his blue eyes crinkling at the corners.

“If I say yes,” he began softly, leaning back against her just the tiniest bit more, “will you try to make me eat more frogs?”

She froze, her own mind seeking out the memory he was referring to. When it came back to her, she burst into laughter. She could still perfectly recall the look of disgust on his face as she’d tried to shove the hot-footed frog into his mouth. Link laughed along with her, a bright beautiful sound she had so rarely heard. It warmed her inside more than any elixirs the castle’s potionmakers had ever created for her.

“I will admit,” he eventually added as their laughter began to taper off, “that there are still blank spots in my mind. I’m not sure if my memory will ever completely return.”

He sounded so tentative and uncertain, that Zelda reflexively squeezed the hand interlocked with her own to offer him some comfort.

“That’s alright,” she murmured soothingly, trying to sound as confident as possible. If he was feeling lost, she would simply have to be his guide. “These things might just take time. There’s so much we don’t know about the Shrine of Resurrection, after all. You were able to regain some memories, so you may still regain the rest. And even if you do not, I swear to you I will be here to help you and answer any questions you might have.” She smiled against his shoulder. “We’ll make new memories, now that we’re free of Ganon’s influence.”

He looked back at her, his cheek brushing her own. “Together?” he asked.

“Yes,” she told him warmly, feeling like she might just burst with happiness. “Yes, together.”

He smiled, giving her hand a squeeze of his own. And then, with a sigh, he leaned fully back against her, letting her take his weight. Trusting her to take care of him as he finally, _finally_ rested.

“Thank you, Link,” Zelda murmured to him as she felt him slowly start to fall asleep. “The Hero of Hyrule. For coming to save me. For freeing us all from Ganon’s power. I’m so happy.”

“O’course I did,” Link mumbled, his eyes shut and his body relaxed. He was all but out. “Love you.”

If she wasn’t hanging onto Link so tightly, Zelda might have fallen from the horse in shock. He said it. He said it so simply, so honestly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. The ringing in her ears returned, and for a moment she wondered if this was what it felt like to be a Rito, because she was almost sure she could fly.

“I…love you too,” she whispered back, but he was already asleep, soft snores her only response. Still, she leaned forward, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek, and tightened her hold around him.

Zelda took a moment to calm herself, seeking her center. These were the current truths of her life; Link loved her, and she loved him. Ganon was gone, they were safe and together, and the sun was shining above them. Hyrule was weakened, but not destroyed, and together they could rebuild her Kingdom, and usher in a new age of peace and prosperity.

“I love you, Link,” she said again to his slumbering form, trying to get used to the words. She had a feeling she would be saying them many times in the near future.

But first, she needed a change of clothes, proper medicine, and food. Everything else could wait.

With that in mind, she spurred on their mount a little bit faster, eager to get started on their future together.

**Author's Note:**

> This plot was essentially made possible by the Naydra side quest. Basically if a friggin DRAGON of the GODS can become corrupted by Ganon, wee little Link can probably get gunked up too. This plot was ALSO made possible because the mental image of Zelda holding the Master Sword and being the one to destroy Ganon just made me really happy, okay?
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this, and if you want to scream at me some more about Zelink or BotW or Zelda in general, you can find my tumblr at [ikiracake](http://ikiracake.tumblr.com/).


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